Purpose — A Company’s True North
The purpose of a business is rarely to be a money making machine; in fact, several long-established and successful businesses started out with the purpose of providing useful, and sometimes even lifesaving, products and services to people and communities. Businesses need to make profit to survive in the long-run, but profit making in itself is not a purpose. John Mackey, Co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods stated:
“Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must businesses live just to make profits.” — John Mackey, Co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods.
Purpose is at the core of values-driven work. By knowing and describing the purpose a business can focus its efforts. It can aim the energy at key tasks and fulfill its mission effectively.
“To make better companies, one must start with developing better leaders. And to develop better leaders, one must help them discover a better Purpose — for themselves and their colleagues.” — Nikos Mourkogiannis, author of “Purpose: The starting Point of Great Companies”
The purpose of the business activity needs to be described and acted on in relation to core business, and all the company’s actions need to align with this purpose.
The need to bring purpose to the core of strategy and operations is at the center of holistic sustainability work. Focusing on purpose acknowledges the interconnection of both business and society, both of which are dependent on, and cannot thrive without, the other.
This is an excerpt from Inter Business Index 2017, ranking the 50 largest corporations in Sweden. Based on published research, the Inter Business Index uses a unique tool, Ibx Insight™, developed to measure and analyze the core skills that indicate a company’s’ ability to create holistic value.
Download full report and find out which Swedish corporations are the frontrunners in business beyond sustainability — the ones that have the ability to lead with the skills needed to create value in multiple dimensions.
The Inter Business framework is built on extensive qualitative research, resulting in not only the Index itself, but also a sound methodology for the framework that have been published in Journal of Management and Sustainability and European Social Innovations Review.
The Inter Business Index is presented by us, Inter Business Initiative, and Ibx, who offers tools to measure and manage, as well as insights on, business beyond sustainability.
